Posts Tagged ‘Hotline Miami’

You know, I never really thought about it before, but I think Proteus and Hotline Miami are videogame inverses. One’s about languidly strolling around a neon-bubblegum dreamscape paradise while the other’s about blink-and-you’ll-be-on-the-receiving-end-of-it murder in an entirely different kind of neon-bubblegum dreamscape “paradise”. They are one anther’s bizarro twin, eternally opposed but forever intertwined. Also, they’re in the latest Humble Indie Bundle together, which is neat. And neater still? Probably the fact that they’re joined by Little Inferno, Awesomenauts, Capsized, Thomas Was Alone, and Dear Esther. Yeah, eight is pretty great. Or something.

RPS’s own wayward ronin word master Cara Ellison, during a post-convention victory dinner, put it best: “GDC is where we first hear about all the stuff everyone will be talking about next year.” Maybe it’s a trend-setter, or maybe it’s just a megaphone for gentle tickles of trends that are already in motion, but the point remains: GDC tends to be pretty indicative of where we’re at. People often view E3 in that light, but the fact is, it’s a dinosaur wreathed in fireworks, frilly undergarments, and little else. E3 is a projection. GDC has evolved into its opposite: introspection. We look inward, and then we discuss. And this year – thanks to things like the renewed prominence of PC gaming, a focus on indies, and the #1ReasonToBe talk – I came away quite optimistic. That warm feeling does not, however, come without some rather glaring caveats. Same-y looking “next-gen” games. The IGDA’s insulting use of scantily clad dancers. A worrisome gulf between triple-A and indie. For each positive, there was an ugly negative.

Music man David Valjalo follows-up his exploration of the big-budget orchestral soundtracks in the mainstream games industry with a look at the other end of the scale – the super-low-budget, ultra-catchy, sometimes kitschy scores of indie darlings. He rounds up the men behind Hotline Miami, Sweden-based Dennis Wedin and Jonatan Soderstrom, two of the soundtrack artists they hand-picked, US artists M.O.O.N. and Scattle, and FTL composer Ben Prunty, to get the scoop on making music for small games and, quite often, small change.

I dove back down Hotline Miami‘s blood-slick Slip ‘n’ Slide of utterly blissful brutality this weekend, and now it’s all I can think about. It’s a testament to the sheer refinement of its systems, I think, that it can so thoroughly hook me time and time again. But nothing is perfect – not even when it’s really, really close. So Cactus and co are charging forward with a full-blown sequel. Will there be more breeds of dog? More types of dudes with cat-like shotgunning-your-face-off reflexes? Cats? Um, well, no one’s really sure yet. Oh, but it will have music! This has been – as we say in nigh-impenetrable videogame parlance – confirmed.

Hotline Miami now allows players to throttle their flatmates with controller cords. Either that or it’s actually possible to play the game with a controller but that seems unlikely. That’s not the only fix/addition that the update brings and there’s also a native Mac version in the works. Important additions: new environmental graphics, a bonus stage unlocked when the campaign is finished, “more gore with the Jones mask” and “the pot of boiling water has been updated”. We should compile a ‘patch note of the year’ list just so that the pot of boiling water can win some sort of trophy. The update should already be live on Steam.

Part of me objects to the very concept of expanding Hotline Miami – “IT IS A PURE AND PERFECT SHINING DIAMOND OF FLOW, CONTROL, MOOD AND BRUTALITY LEAVE IT ALONE” – but most of me just wants to play some more Hotline Miami. Devs Dennaton have quietly revealed that DLC for the game of fluid murder is in the works, as well as ongoing patching for the buggy old dear, proper joypad* support and more “secret” things.Read the rest of this entry »

If you can’t beat ‘em, well… that’s not actually a phrase that exists in the world of Hotline Miami. It’s either beat (with a colorful assortment of bats, drills, pipes, and katanas) or be beaten black and blue and red and neon pink. There is, as Yoda says – presumably as a result of some LSD-induced hallucination – no try. Hotline Miami’s creators, however, are nothing like that. They, perhaps better than much of the rest of the gaming industry, understand the art of compromise. So when pirates started peddling a slightly glitchy version of Hotline Miami in the Internet’s seediest alleyways, Jonatan Soderstrom – aka, Cactus – decided to offer them a helping hand.

Dennaton’s HOTLINE MIAMI has the style of Drive in a fever dream, the look of GTA 1, the tone of American Psycho, the presentation of 80s video nasties and the combat of a strategy game running at 100x speed. It’s out now. Here are some words about it.Read the rest of this entry »

Hotline Miami sure is a game. A game that’s going to kill you. And in the game. It’s out in only three days, so I grabbed the chance to speak to publisher Devolver Digital’s Chief Financial Officer and all round PR expert – Fork Parker – for a hard-hitting interview.

The Eurogamer Expo 2012 approaches at frightening speed – I’m measured it with my Velocitometer, and it’s headed towards us at exactly 81.7 terawatts per nanoclick. Like I say, terrifying. If you’ve been holding off from attending due to its apparent focus on hiss-spit console games, you may be cheered to hear that its One True Format contents have increased exponentially. Avuncular DayZ bossman Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall will be holding a talk, and now EG have taken the wraps off the Rezzed PC and Inde Games Zone, an attempt to recreate some of the delightful amicable, laid-back mood of last month’s lovely, RPS co-headlined PC-only Rezzed show in Brighton.Read the rest of this entry »

Hotline Miami will eat your children, and then you will ask to marry it. I have a new preview build on my PC, but I’m almost too intimidated by its brutal wonder to play it. While I attempt to gather courage, you could play it yourself if you’re attending GamesCom. Or, if you can wait a little longer, you’ll be able to buy it via Steam. That’s today’s announcement for Dennaton’s neon-hued odyssey of top-down sadism, though sadly it is not accompanied by a release date. You’ll have to make do with watching the new trailer below, featuring one of the best bits of the game’s soundtrack, and wishing Hotline Miami would somehow materialise on your hard drive.Read the rest of this entry »